Not Just Once A Year
by kjt1
Summary: Sara's a thief and Grissom's... romantic? GS. Unbound Challenge response.


Title: Not Just Once A Year  
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: You know they're not mine.  
Notes: Unbound challenge response. First and last lines provided and I'm about 300 words over the 1,000 word limit – oops! Given the date of posting, I just had to get a little mushy somewhere, right?

-

**"I believe that an apology is in order."**

"Get over yourself, Greg," scoffed Sara as she sipped the highly sought after, and fought over, coffee.

The young CSI tried to glare at her, but her raised eyebrows causes his attempt to falter and he settled for puppy dog eyes instead.

"It was my last batch, Sara. I don't make as much money now I'm a CSI, so I can't buy the good stuff as often. I can't believe you drank it all," he whined.

"You should know better than to leave it unattended. You're right though, it's good stuff," she grinned. Draining the rest of her mug, she rinsed it out and placed it on the rack to dry before picking up her bag from the table. She patted Greg on the shoulder as she left, leaving him to stare after her pitifully.

As she approached Grissom's office door, she nearly collided with him as he came barreling out of the room. "I was just coming to find you, you're late," he said as he put a hand against the door surround to stop his momentum.

"Yeah, sorry," she said, her tone not at all apologetic. "I needed some coffee. It is my night off after all. Besides, it's not like the body's going to go anywhere."

"No, but the next observation must be done at a specific time to make the experiment meaningful."

"I know," she said softly. "Let's go."

-

Sara stifled a yawn during the drive and mentally shook herself. Of all the nights for her bad sleeping habits to come back at her, it had to be this one.

"Sara, I can drop you home if you want. I can do this alone, I just thought you might like the opportunity," offered Grissom genuinely.

"I'm fine, and I appreciate the opportunity," she replied and then let out a chuckle. He briefly glanced at her questioningly before returning his eyes to the road. "Sorry, I guess I just realized the date. Nick was laughing earlier when I told him why I was at the lab and where I was going and I didn't realize why; it's not like I haven't wanted to do this for a long time."

"I'm not following," he admitted. "The date?" Glancing at his watch, he said, "February 14th?"

"Yeah, Valentine's Day," she laughed, "and I'm spending the night studying a decomposing corpse at the body farm. No wonder Nick keeps telling me to get a life."

"Oh, I uh… I didn't even think," said Grissom. "I didn't realize the date either, or at least not the significance."

"Right, because you're not a highly observant guy and therefore wouldn't notice all the hearts and flowers adorning every store at this time of year," she chuckled wryly.

"I don't go out much," he shrugged. "I uh…" he paused and glanced at her again, meeting her gaze for only a split second. "I'm sorry, you probably had plans for tonight and I usurped them."

Sara's head whipped around to stare at him. "I'm sorry, have we met? I'm Sara Sidle, the kind of woman who doesn't go in for commercialization and the need to show someone you care about them one day a year. Besides, what's better than the body farm?"

"No wonder they call us science nerds," said Grissom self-deprecatingly. "You don't care about Valentine's Day though? I thought all women cared about that, whether they like to admit it or not."

"And I thought you knew better than to make sweeping generalizations," she retorted with a smirk. He met her gaze again and something in his eyes encouraged her to elaborate. "I prefer not having the need to go the extra mile one day a year; I prefer the feelings to be shown throughout the year." He nodded his head slightly, but she saw the reflection of his eyes in the windshield and noticed an emotion in them that she hadn't expected… jealousy. Lowering her voice to almost a whisper, she added, "Not that I've ever had opportunity to test that theory."

It was Grissom's turn to whip his head around, but he recovered quickly and focused straight ahead once more. However, he had given Sara opportunity to notice the relief on his face.

-

"I didn't expect to find this here," said Sara quietly as they walked. "Something so beautiful."

"It's a garden of peace," he murmured. "When the bodies are no longer required for study, they're cremated and the ashes scattered here, if requested. It also serves as a place for people to retreat to when some of their work becomes too much."

Grissom walked to a bench and sat down, motioning for Sara to do the same. Due to the nature of the work, the facility had floodlights in certain places, the garden being one of them. They sat in quiet reverence, contemplating what they had seen that night, both with Grissom's own experiment and the others that were ongoing. As the wind picked up, Sara shivered. Grissom automatically suggested they leave, but she shook her head and produced a flask from her bag.

"Don't tell Greg I had this," she smiled, "he'd kill me for not giving him some after all the whining he did when he thought I'd drunk all of his good stuff."

"Your secret's safe with me," he promised with a small smile, taking the cup that she soon held out for him.

While drinking, they discussed his experiment and what he was hoping to learn, how he was going to apply his findings to his work and some of the other studies he was hoping to undertake in future. When the coffee was finally finished, Sara packed up the flask while Grissom disappeared from her line of sight for a moment.

"I hope you can also keep secrets," he said quietly when he returned. Sara furrowed her brow and then gasped slightly as he held out a rose. "I don't think we're supposed to take flowers from here, but I'm sure they won't mind."

"Uh… thanks," she said hesitantly, unsure of what was happening.

"Whether you agree with the commercialization or not, you have to believe in the spirit of why gifts are given, Sara. I may not show it throughout the year, but the feelings are always there."

Before she could respond, Grissom walked away, keeping a fast pace towards his SUV. Sara raced to catch up with him and found him with his head buried in the back seat, double-checking his notes before they left the facility. Having no idea what to say, she settled herself into the passenger seat, still clutching the rose.

The wind picked up and rustled the papers that Grissom was reviewing, so he closed the back door and started to walk to the front when he noticed that Sara's door was still open. His feet moving without his knowledge, he soon found himself standing with his face mere inches from the side of her head. Her eyes were focused on the rose and he could sense a mixture of happiness and confusion emanating from her. On instinct, his hand reached out to touch her shoulder.

"Wha—? " she said in surprise, her expression turning to shock as her head turned to his and found him so close. Wordlessly, Grissom leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers, tenderly and slowly. Pulling back, he looked at her with mild trepidation, trying to gauge her reaction. Placing a hand on his cheek, she simply said, "It's year round for me too," and watched as a smile made its way across his face.

As their eyes locked, a sudden wind appeared again and made its way around Grissom and inside the vehicle, almost ripping the rose from her hand. Grissom stepped back to close the door and Sara gripped the rose tighter as **the breeze blew the petals across the floor.**

-

Fin


End file.
